by Finian Blake
Agent Byrne was just setting up the office when Tom walked in. “The director cleared my other cases. I decided to camp out here. I don’t want to go anywhere near my family when I am working a case with that many terrorists.”
Tom spoke quietly, “I have a few cold cars stored on a lot and I have two drivers dropping them off while we speak. They will follow you back to your house and bring you back here.”
Randal looked at Tom. “…cold cars?”
“They are registered in West Virginia and have stickers covering more than a few years. There will be no government cars in this parking lot and this way you can leave your personal car at home.” Arnold and Sera walked in the room. Randal I would like you to meet Arnie and Sera. They have never been to Four Diamonds or met with any of my personnel. They are from out of the area.” Arnie was of medium height 170 pounds with medium length brown hair and could blend in almost anywhere. Sera, was another story she was five six 120 pounds with long coarse dark hair with blond highlights, olive skin and dark green eyes. Randal Byrne was hard pressed to place her nationally. Tom continued, “Sera, is French Moroccan she speaks English, French, Arabic and Farsi. She can interpret for you and help you follow the women. Both Arnold and his wife Sera are willing to help and both of them are aware of the ‘Sweeper File’ so you don’t have to worry about them finding out.”
Agent Byrne looked closely at Arnie. “I thought that you looked familiar you were Harry Tildon the CIA Station chief for the U.K.”
Arnold coughed, “That was in another life, right now I am working for Four Diamonds in their European Division and so does my wife.”
“I heard that you were retired for killing a DGSE agent.” Randal pressed.
Sera let her French accent get heavy, “They do not waste resources looking for dead people.”
The whole idea became clear to Randal, “You dog…! I hope you are enjoying your retirement. Are you going to be our CIA contact?”
Arnie pretended to whisper, “Do any of us really retire?”
Randal punched Arnie in the shoulder, “You look damn good for a dead man. Is Sera any good?”
Sera, wasn’t going to be talked about like a piece of meat. “Would you like a demonstration?”
“That won’t be necessary, but may I see your purse?” Randal hefted the purse. He examined it closely. The purse was ten inches long, three inches wide and seven inches deep. It felt a little heavy so he looked inside and besides the usual female items he found two rolls of dimes. Randal held up a roll of dimes
Sera took the roll making a fist around it. “I have small hands. Arnie uses quarters.”
Randal continued his search, “I know that it is in here.”
Sera took the purse removing the end flap pulling her pistol out. It was a Walther mini 9 mm equipped with a silencer she pulled the clip out, cleared the breach and double checked the safety before handing the gun to Randal. “It holds seven shots and I can shoot from inside my purse.”
Randal handed the purse back to Sera, who smiled broadly at him. “You’re a dead man.” She removed the Velcro flap at the other end producing a two shot derringer that fired forty-five long rounds. “It’s absolutely devastating at five feet. It kicks like a mule and is noisy as hell but then it is last resort. You also missed the one behind my cell phone in the end pocket. I keep it there in case someone doesn’t get the message.” Sera pushed a button in the strap of her purse and the cell phone seemed to ring. “As you see my phone rings whether somebody’s calling or not.”
Randal laughed, “And what is your back up for that.”
Sera removed two grey metal picks from her hair whose tops were adorned with fake gems and Randal noticed that the ends were an extreme point. Sera could see the next question coming, so she reached between Randal’s legs grabbing him forcefully, “If that doesn’t work I crush their eggs.”
He coughed in pain, “I believe that covers things. Arnie, where did you find her?”
“Maid service…” Sera held up her fist an inch below Arnold’s nose. “We were introduced to each other at the Amazon Inn about two years ago. That’s just before that stupid bastard Felix pushed me into killing her.”
Tom interrupted the exchange, “And I believe that you know that Arnie is capable too. The computers are on a secure line, the phones are on a secure line and there are six satellite phones with the numbers taped on the side. Their numbers are loaded into the speed dial of the other phones. Next I stocked the gun safe. You have six 9 mm Sigs, six M4 carbines, two Benelli twelve gage M4 semi-automatic shot guns and two M40/A3. The ammunition is a mix of regular and Teflon coated armor piercing rounds. The terrorists have discovered body armor, so we prefer it.” Tom opened the gun safe to reveal the contents. “I have some heavier stuff available but the cabinet was full.”
Arnie pulled an M40 out of the safe. “I trained on the M40 A1 model when I was in Marine Recon. It looks like they improved the scope. I was getting good hits at 800 yards. You said that you have some heavier stuff. Do you have any Barrette 50’s?”
“You do want heavy and what do you want for Ammo?”
“I think that anti-material rounds should do it. I want to be able to stop an armored car if I need to.”
Tom nodded his head, “It is a bit extreme, but we can do that. Randal, what about you?”
“I am more interested in electronic surveillance. What intelligence do you have available?”
Tom laid Edwards report on the table. “We have four more probable terrorists, three female and one male. We were able to get a picture of Nabil the male but we couldn’t follow the three females to Baltimore. Sera I would like you to handle that part. Give me a call when you head back from dropping off Randal’s car and I will give you a location. Here is a camera.”
Randal wanted to bring himself up to speed. “Why does the Director want to restrict this case so tightly?”
“The ‘Sweeper File’ seems to be locked to this case for some reason and he is more interested in the file than the terrorists, but he still wants the terrorists. Give him whatever names you want and see who he approves. We are using special assets and you will never get those.”
Randal was getting frustrated, “I would feel a whole lot better if I knew who or what those assets are. Are you going to feed me that need to know bullshit?”
Tom was getting frustrated, “Randy you are here to monitor the operation and make the call as to when the FBI takes over. Things are slow so why don’t you take a day and have your tech boys check out the computers. The Director has been dealing directly with us for the last month and is satisfied with the intel. There is currently no official file with the FBI so have them wipe all of the info after they run it.” Arnie and Sera loaded some of the weapons from the safe in the van and left with Randal heading toward the old Fort Meade firing range. Time permitting, they would stop there, and limber up some of the new hardware that Tom had just provided.
Maalik was getting tired with the class schedule of Rajiya, Safiyyah and Uzma. Rajiya was a trained operative with skills while his cousins Safiyyah and Uzma were religiously motivated and intelligent enough to come over as students. Maalik thought that it was a waste of time training women for combat. He wanted them to run messages and maybe strap on a bomb. The problem was that they had to attend a university to maintain their visas, so if they stopped attending classes they would be deported. Nabil had already met with the men and it bothered Maalik to accommodate the women but they proved useful in making purchases. When they arrived Maalik was furious. “I have to attend Salah at the Mosque I am the speaker and you stupid cows are going to make me late.” He handed Rajiya an envelope that had their list of purchases. It contained places that they were to buy them at, and who was to go in the store to make the purchases. Inside the envelope were $3,000 and a map. “Do your Salah here and then make your purchases. Do not take them here. Go to the storage locker and leave them all there.”
Rajiya was getting impatient, �
�You mean you want us to do what we always do. Maalik I can remember from one day to the next what we do.” She was betrothed, but wondered what life would be like with him. Maalik loved her but he was totally traditional. The only reason that she was on this operation was to carry messages and run errands.
In America women had much more latitude but they displayed themselves shamelessly. The women in her group wore loose fitting slacks, baggy long sleeve tops and wore a hijab showing only the skin on their face. When he returned to Saudi Arabia Maalik would receive an appointment with the Religious Police who were charged with enforcing the moral law. These restrictions applied to Muslim women. Rajiya noticed that he didn’t worry about the restriction of keeping himself pure when it came to the American women. He was particularly attracted to big chested blonds in shorts, halter tops and high heels.
Maalik was half way out the door. “You are here to do as you are told.”
“All of your dictates will be carried out as they have always been and always will be. We will say our prayers at noon and leave to perform your errands.”
Felix Owens was going crazy since every third time that he hit the FBI icon the picture of the naked bruised Cherry popped up. He deleted the picture several times and each time it popped up again. He had the icon eliminated and the problem ceased but started again as soon as he reloaded the FBI Icon. Working for the Justice Department he needed the icon to access restricted files. Boris was watching his monitor as Felix went through the steps that the FBI tech had given him. Finally, Felix went in to the FBI tech department and talk to Nick.
“Nick, how in the hell do I get rid of this?”
“We should be able to highlight the picture and delete.” Nick tried for about a half hour to eliminate the picture. Boris recognized the steps from the tech and picked up the phone calling Nick.
“Nick you are never going to get that out of there,” Boris hung up without waiting for a reply.
Nick turned to Felix, “Did you ignore my advice and call Boris?”
“After what he did I had to give him a piece of my mind.”
“I hope that it was a small piece. You can’t afford much!” Nick couldn’t resist the comment. “Did you blame him for beating up that woman?”
“I most certainly did. I gave him a good piece of my mind.”
Nick gently handed Felix the computer as if he were afraid that it would explode. “What you are suffering from is a good piece of your mind. I suggest that you call Boris with a sincere apology and pray that he accepts it. If I do any more for you he is going to start screwing with me and I can’t afford that.”
“He can’t prove that you are helping me!”
“God dammit, Felix you are a lawyer but this is not a court of law. He knows that I am helping you. He called me for Christ sake at a number that is not on any of the lists. I can’t afford to have my department go down for your stupid feud. He may have the name of the cartoon character but you really want to call him ‘Ming the Merciless.”
Felix was surprised by the outburst. “You shouldn’t take the name of the Lord in vain.” Nick was unaware that he was so religiously bent.
“In that case say a lot of prayers because only God or Boris can get you off the hook and neither one is going to do anything without being asked.” Nick pointed toward the door without looking at Felix.
After fifteen minutes passed, the phone rang. “Now that he is gone, I wanted to congratulate you. You got me out twice.”
“How did you know he left?”
“Nick I am hooked into the security camera in your lab.” Nick’s head jerked around searching the lab.
Boris laughed during the pause. “Relax there is no camera in your lab. I am hooked into the WIFI on his computer and the GPS on his cell phone. He is leaving the parking lot right now.”
Nick was worried, “I hope that you don’t blame me for him calling you.”
“Nonsense we are friends,” Boris said playfully. “You have provided me with some good practice this morning. Do not be afraid to help him we have had some good play. I called the little lady and we had a nice conversation. You know I have a weakness for big breasted women. I appreciate the introduction.”
“You liked the picture so much that I see you used it.”
“She showed them to me live and in person. She can also help me bring my family over.”
“Your mother and sister…?”
“No, my whole family…!”
“Felix is screwed.”
“By a TBM…,” Boris laughed.
“A what…,” Nick asked.
“A Tunnel Boring Machine…” Boris gave a sinister laugh and broke the connection.
Boris called Cherry, asking her to come up to his lab. She left Rhonda to finish her work going up by herself. “Boris what may I do for my friend?”
Boris was talking to her chest, “I have called Georgia and your sister Cassandra. Are you sure that fifteen people are alright with you? I made some promises and would not like to lie to anyone.”
Cherry started to remove her blouse. “Boris they are tits not ears. If you are going to talk to them, you might as well talk directly to them.” Cherry continued after removing her bra. “Cassandra will make all of your arrangements the first stop will be in Manchester to have their papers made. Have you had any luck with her computer problem?”
“Your sister is a wonderful lady I gave her everything that she requested. She speaks Georgian too.”
“Those little tubes for disrupting cell phones are a great idea can you get any more?”
“I make them myself but they are modified chips and take time to make.”
“Boris I have a friend that has influence with several electronics manufactures maybe she can find what you need. Here is her number just ask for Suki and use my name. She will help you register a patent in your name and get them produced.” Cherry wrote down the number without looking it up.
Boris smiled, “It looks like we will do a lot of business together. Let’s drink to it. What would you like to drink?”
Cherry said cheerfully, “…milk.”
Boris frowned, “I don’t have any milk.”
Cherry massaged her breast for several seconds and a few drops of white liquid appeared on her nipple. “…I do.”
Cherry breezed into Rhonda’s office, “We have an agreement with Boris, I gave him a milk shake and he is going to give us the store.” Rhonda looked dumbly at her until Cherry cupped a breast and shook it causing Rhonda to burst out in laughter. “I believe that we have a date at the Greenbrier.”
“I thought you might want to cancel so that you can take care of Boris’s problem.”
Cherry gently stroked Rhonda’s cheek. “I know my priorities so I delegate. Boris will have his fifteen people delivered within the week. Tom, Arnie and Sera are working with Randal to handle the terrorists with Edward and Layla doing the intelligence. Felix made a personal affront to Boris. I didn’t even have to ask Boris to do something. As a matter of fact, I really don’t want to know. With all of that taken care of we will handle each other.” They took Rhonda’s car to Tipton Airport where the helicopter was waiting to take them to the Greenbrier.
Sera called in at five PM to find out where the Saudi women were, and was directed to the storage lockers that held their stash. She broke out her 1500 millimeter camera lens for the extreme long shot. There was still plenty of daylight so a good clear picture was possible at a distance. Randal was still doubtful of the information. As they pulled up three ladies wearing hijab were walking to the roll up door and Sera cranked off several shots. The angle was wrong to shoot the inside of the storage locker but she did shoot the inside of the van from the rear. Randal was in total disbelief. “You just show up. Take the picture of the first three women you see and that’s it. How can you be so sure?”
Sera opened the file pointing to the descriptions. “They match the descriptions in the file to a ‘T’ and they are all wearing hijab in August so I
assume that they are from that region. Sera hooked her camera to her phone pushing the speed dial.” She waited for a few rings with the phone picking up and after a brief conversation Sera transmitted the picture hanging up when the transmission was finished. Within a few minutes the phone rang again. Sera answered spending only ten seconds in conversation. “Randal, those are the women from the other morning. Have your people run the plates and look up their student IDs. I believe that you will find that they are all from Saudi Arabia. I promised to cook Tom dinner this evening so we need to hurry.”
Randal was disappointed, “I was hoping that we would have time for some conversation on the stakeout.”
Arnie joined in, “You can join us for dinner and we can have our discussion over drinks. There is just one problem, Tom has house guests so please don’t mention the terrorists in front of them.”
Arnold stopped by the temporary office to drop off the weapons. Sera loaded her derringers with two armor piercing rounds each eliminating the fragmentary rounds, and switched to four clips of armor piercing for her Walther mini. “There are four terrorists working as guards that have body armor so I will not be taking any chances. If things get tight I will just have to back ground my shots.”
Randal had seen Sera at the firing range and there was no doubt that she could shoot. “Tom said that he has a long distance range lined up tomorrow as well as a gym for some combat sparring.” He looked at Sera. “Are you up for a little close combat?”
Arnold answered before she did, “Randal, I believe that if you under estimate her, Sera will hand you your head. We are not talking about martial arts for sport.”
“I have had advanced FBI training. I will not get caught short.”